The Choice

By: David Sapir – October, 2011

A town had fallen on hard times. Like any other town, it had its share of rich and poor, good and bad, honorable and dishonorable people.

A prosperous man looked out a window of the fine house he worked hard to build for his family. Across the street, the town drunk was abusing his wife. Both men’s wives were stricken with fever the previous week, and the prosperous man’s wife had died. He loved her deeply and she had loved him deeply, and in his terrible state of loss he cursed life for being so cruel and unfair. And so he came to despise the town drunk.

The previous week, the town drunk looked out a broken window of the shabby house others had built for his family. Across the street, the prosperous man was leaving to attend his wife’s funeral. The town drunk watched him and looked with envy upon his fine clothes, fine shoes, his fine home and handsome appearance. The town drunk had once worked for the prosperous man. He was paid well and treated with respect, but was fired for frequently coming in late and drunk. As the prosperous man walked away, the town drunk looked around his dirty, cold house and cursed life for being so cruel and unfair. And so he came to despise the prosperous man.

All over town people felt this way about their fellow neighbors during these hard times.

But that all changed when a progressive thinking group of highly educated fellow citizens discovered the culprits responsible for everyone’s hard times. They were absolutely sure that they were absolutely right. And when they shared their discovery with everyone, something amazing happened.

Citizens united people.

Rich and poor, good and bad, honorable and dishonorable people all stood together in unity and celebrated the progressive discovery that witches were among them and cursing them all in secret. Witches were responsible for everyone’s hard times, and as soon as they were found and burned to death, prosperity and fairness would return for all.

One by one many people were convinced, and once they were, it became obvious that each and every person in town was either a witch or a fellow citizen. So no one blamed the progressive group of citizens for being so absolute and intolerant towards any person who disagreed with them.

The progressive thinkers told the prosperous man that a witch had probably placed a powerful spell on his wife out of envy for her beauty and the fine life she’d had with him. It was the only way to explain his misfortune. And so the prosperous man stood in unity with the town drunk and joined the hunt for the witch that cursed his wife.

The progressive thinkers told the town drunk that a witch had probably placed a powerful spell on him that was keeping him drunk, keeping him poor and making him fail. It was the only way to explain his misfortune. And so the town drunk stood in unity with the prosperous man and joined the hunt for the witch that cursed his life.

Once people had accepted the existence of witches as an absolute fact, each and every person in town quickly fell under suspicion as being a potential witch. A prosperous man was now closely scrutinized to make sure he wasn’t a witch using powerful spells to curse town drunks that hadn’t lost their wives to fever. A town drunk was now closely scrutinized to make sure he wasn’t a witch using powerful spells to curse people for being more prosperous.

The town remained united despite ever worsening hard times. Intense fear, grief, anger and paranoia soon took hold of every person. Every day, all day and all night, the hunt for witches never stopped. No one felt safe, even among family and close friends. People stopped speaking freely and avoided contact with each other because a witch became whoever someone else said was a witch. Proof of witchery became whatever someone else considered offensive. Very strict laws and mandates were quickly passed. Calling someone else a witch soon became the only way a citizen could absolutely prove they were not a witch themselves.

Sensible people both rich and poor openly rejected the progressive thinkers. They refused to join the hunt and refused to accuse anyone of being a witch. For displaying such bravery and decency in public, they were the first witches burned to death by the reformed community of citizens, which now called itself the United Solution Activists.

With the blessings of the church and the law’s full support, the U.S.A. burned their own family members, friends, lovers, rivals, newborns and unborn. They burned them all to death as witches because every citizen was certain. They were certain the accused was a witch or certain they’d burn as a witch themselves if they tried to interfere in any way.

Each citizen had to burn or be burned. The decision became known as The Choice. A soul freely made The Choice and burned to death but was granted eternal life for refusing to burn fellow citizens, or a soul freely made The Choice and burned for all eternity to remain a fellow citizen. For a believer, The Choice was very hard to make. For a citizen, The Choice was pure religious nonsense. As for those the U.S.A. burned to death not a single one of them was a witch, regardless of their sins or stature in life.

Some were burned because they were selfless heroes and some were burned because they were lowly cowards. Some were burned because they were pretty and some were burned because they were ugly. Some were burned because they were brilliant and some were burned because they were dull. And so on and so on.

Life was unbearably cruel, hard and desperate for the remaining U.S.A. citizens after every witch in their community was finally found and burned to death. But life was fair and equal for every citizen. Every U.S.A. citizen was unemployed and living in a shabby house. Every U.S.A citizen didn’t have enough food or clean water. No one from the U.S.A had fine clothes, fine things or an education. Every U.S.A. citizen was a guilty criminal, and every U.S.A. citizen drank hard, often and alone to cope with all they had done and lost forever. Employers were burned. Employees were burned. Bankers were burned. Builders and farmers were burned. Artisans and writers were burned. Teachers were burned. Babies were burned. When fever struck two U.S.A. citizens or twenty, all of them died because all of the doctors were burned.

Today, hard times have fallen on America.

And a progressive thinking group of highly educated fellow citizens have discovered the culprits responsible. Many Americans and much of the world agree they are absolutely right. Rich and poor, good and bad, honorable and dishonorable, gay and straight, legal and illegal, Democrat and Republican, God fearing and atheist, and employed and unemployed of every color and background are now standing together in agreement. They are united by a single belief. They are absolutely certain that Racists are among us and cursing us all in secret. They have been absolutely convinced that Racists and their way of life are completely responsible for all of the world’s problems and hard times. Every Racist works as hard as possible to keep as much money and property for themselves as possible. Every Racist says whatever they want, lives however they want and owns whatever they wish. Racists rule the world and our lives with a powerful spell called Capitalism and an evil curse called The Constitution.

Racists are responsible for ruining our economy, poisoning our planet, evicting us from our homes, laying us off, making us poor, making us violent, making us addicts, making us sick, making us fail, keeping us dumb and keeping us down. Social Justice demands reform of The Law. Every citizen shall be entitled to equality and fairness at all times because The Law shall be entitled to every citizen equally and fairly at all times. Every citizen serving The Law believes it is hateful, intolerant and offensive to ever question The Law. The Law entitles each soul The Right to freely and openly choose to serve as a citizen. For the good of The Community, every citizen must willingly and publicly agree to submit unconditionally to The Law. That is The Law.

The Choice is to disagree.

David Sapir is a writer, artist and inventor from Kingston, MA. David can be reached on Facebook or by contacting him at davidjsapir@aol.com.